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Stevie Ray Vaughan’s First Professional Guitar Is Up for Sale

On March 27, you can bid on guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first professional guitar, a 1951 Fender Broadcaster, at Heritage Auctions. The instrument was gifted to Vaughan in 1966 by his brother, Jimmie Vaughan, as a means to keep Stevie from borrowing other guitars. SRV used this guitar to develop his signature style while playing clubs in the late ’60s and made his first studio recordings with it. Well-played, this guitar features an ash body with the finish removed by Vaughan in his school’s shop class and the name ‘Jimbo’ carved into the back.

In 1971, SRV traded the guitar to a North Texas music teacher for a red Epiphone. In later years, Vaughan regretted trading the instrument — which had been traded again — and looked for it until his death in 1990. The guitar wound up in a Dallas recording studio where it was used by a session musician for many years.

Bidding starts at $200,000 with no reserve and is expected to surpass $400,000. The winner of the auction not only gets the guitar but also two unreleased live recordings of SRV playing the instrument with his early jazz-rock band Liberation.